Burn the curse of the enemy!

VII, 25, 2. âré tám sámsam krinuhi ninitsóh.

Take far away the curse of the reviler! Cf. VII, 34, 12.

It means blessing:

II, 31, 6. utá yah sámsam usígâm-iva smasi.

We desire your blessing as a blessing for suppliants.

X, 31, 1. â´ nah devâ´nâm úpa vetu sámsah.

May the blessing of the gods come to us!

X, 7, 1. urushyá nah urú-bhih deva sámsaih.

Protect us, god, with thy wide blessings!

II, 23, 10. mâ´ nah duh-sámsah abhi-dipsúh îsata prá susámsâh matí-bhih târishîmahi.

Let not an evil-speaking enemy conquer us; may we, enjoying good report, increase by our. prayers!

In some passages, however, as pointed out by Grassmann, sámsa may best be rendered by singer, praiser. Grassmann marks one passage only,

II, 26, 1. rigúh ít sámsah vanavat vanushyatáh.

May the righteous singer conquer his enemies.

He admits, however, doubtfully, the explanation of B. R., that rigúh sámsah may be taken as one word, meaning, 'requiring the right.' This explanation seems surrendered by B. R. in the second edition of their Dictionary, and I doubt whether sámsah can mean here anything but singer. That being so, the same meaning seems more appropriate in other verses also, which I formerly translated differently, e. g.

VII, 56, 19. imé sámsam vanushyatáh ní pânti.

They, the Maruts, protect the singer from his enemy.

Lastly, sámsa means praise, the spell addressed by men to the gods, or prayer:

I, 33, 7. prá sunvatáh stuvatáh sámsam âvah.

Thou hast regarded the prayer of him who offers libation and praise.

X, 42, 6. yásmin vayám dadhimá sámsam índre.

Indra in whom we place our hope. Cf. âsams, Westergaard, Radices Linguae Sanscritae, s. v. sams.

Footnotes

214:a Schleicher, Compendium, § 36, αἴθω, αἰθήρ, αἴθουσα; and § 49, aides, aidilis aestas.

215:a Ápa-tya; cf. Bopp, Accentuationssystem, § 138, ἔπι-σσαι, Nachkommen.

217:a Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 262.

217:b Spiegel, who had formerly identified harmyá with the Zend zairimya in zairimyanura, has afterwards recalled this identification; see Spiegel, Av. Ubers. I, p. 190; Commentar über den Avesta, I, p. 297; Justi, Handbuch, p. 119; Haug, Pahlavi Glossary, p. 22. According to the Parsis, the Hairimyanura, a daêva animal which appears at the rising of the sun, is the turtle, and Darmesteter (Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 283) identifies zair in zair-imya with the Greek χελ-ύς, Sanskrit har-muta.

227:a Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. ix, p. 233.